#202: Blindside Lounge

The Bar

Blindside Lounge. 211 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 8/2/2024 @ 9pm.

The Drink

Penis colada. "Four kinds of rum", "green", pineapple juice. $7. Plus bonus "breakfast tequila" shot.

The name of this drink, which our bartender selected, is the kind of joke that probably lands really well with the bachelorette parties who are one of the main target demographics of this kind of establishment. Heck, it landed well with us; when you go bar-hopping on this stretch of Dirty Sixth on a Friday night and start asking bartenders complicated questions about which drinks best sum up the bar, you're just asking to be Rumple Minze'd, so a prank cocktail might as well be a Manhattan in comparison. His choice was perfect - affordable but alcoholic, striking to the eye yet easy on the palate. In a reverse of the usual shot + chaser formula, he gave us a round of shots of "his favorite breakfast tequila". If you're wondering why I didn't record more details of these drinks, it's not (just) because this was the fifth stop of the night, although that didn't improve our memories - it's because even though we were essentially the only patrons in the whole place, the bartender kept wandering off to different zones of the bar to concoct our beverages while in mid-hilarious monologue mode on his surprisingly eventful life story, and, being attentive and appreciative patrons, we did not want to interrupt his story for such nitpicky details as "what's in this drink?" or "what do you mean by 'breakfast tequila'?" A+ would recommend.

The Crew

Elijah, Aaron.

Notes

The fifth and final stop of the evening. Blindside Lounge is one of those rare new bars on Dirty Sixth that did not replace a previous bar, instead having been founded earlier this year as an adjunct of the Blindside Tattoo & Piercing establishment in the same building. There was some sort of interesting but hard-to-decipher situation going on with the ownership, who were evidently semi-absentee but also very committed to making the new establishment successful, although like I said this seemed to be an off-night. Having just come back from a trip to Panama and Peru, I appreciated the Mesoamerican/Pre-Columbian art theme of the interior decoration over the classic legacy Austin stone, which also had some sort of deep meaning to the owners. Quite frankly all of these nightclub bars on Dirty Sixth are essentially indistinguishable to the average patron wandering in off the street, so having a friendly bartender and any kind of distinctive motif at all is a huge product differentiator, to use a marketing term. They might need more of that business speak; when I was doing my post-visit research I really couldn't find much on them even though they've been open for half a year, which is usually plenty of time to build a media footprint. Hope they make it.

#201: The Dead Rabbit

The Bar

The Dead Rabbit. 204 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 8/2/2024 @ 8:30pm.

The Drink

Irish coffee. Teeling Small Batch Irish whiskey, coffee, demerara, whipped cream, nutmeg. $16.

The Dead Rabbit was one of those venues where the bartender was not amused by my standard request to give me the drink that they felt best represented the bar. I never hold it against them, as a Friday night on Sixth Street is usually neither the time nor the place to force a bartender to plumb the depths of their soul to isolate the essence of the establishment, but in my defense, they had a lot of cocktails, including not one, not two, not even three, but four distinct Irish coffees. I have to commend the bartender for not simply giving us two shots of Rumple Minze the way that her counterparts at Friends and Barcelona did in the same Friday night scenario, because she gave me their standard Irish coffee and it was delicious. She couldn't tell me much about the coffee, but Teeling is a newish Irish distillery, and this was one of  their entry-level whiskeys, which are often underrated compared to their fancier siblings. Not that it's generally possible to make a bad Irish coffee. You read a lot about the important role that hotel bars have had in the history of the cocktail, but the Irish coffee was invented in an airport bar in Foynes Airport, near what is now Shannon Airport, which is possibly unique in cocktail history. I have had an Irish coffee at the Buena Vista in San Francisco, which popularized the drink in the US (apparently the story that inventor Joe Sheridan brought the recipe with him is untrue), and this one was right up there. Elijah got the frozen Irish coffee, and while it was not quite up there with the version from the Erin Rose in New Orleans, which is one of my favorite drinks of all time, it was excellent too. They theoretically have some Austin-specific special cocktails, but those will have to wait until next time. 

The Crew

Elijah, Aaron.

Notes

The fourth stop of the evening, and certainly the most upscale. The Dead Rabbit replaced BD Riley's, an Austin-native bar which was one of many tragic COVID casualties, though luckily they still have a location up in Mueller. I always find it amusing when one bar is replaced by a very similar bar - what, is it in the lease that you have to follow the same theme and keep the same goofy shit on the wall? - but it makes a bit more sense when you consider what a globally successful business "Irishness" is. Earlier this year I had the privilege of spending St. Patrick's Day at Paddy's in Cuzco, Peru, the self-proclaimed "highest 100% Irish owned pub on the planet", which was possibly even more Irish than the Irish bars I've been to in Ireland. The reason why there are a zillion Irish bars all around the globe and not the equivalent number of, say, Welsh or Scottish bars, is in large part due to the Irish Pub Company, which has done a very good job of meeting consumer demand for cozy, intimate, friendly, joyous, convivial spaces for pints of plain and good craic by airlifting prefab bars to every corner of the planet.

Interestingly, the OG Dead Rabbit in Manhattan (named after a questionably historical gang that was further embellished in the movie Gangs of New York) was founded as a bit of a reaction to this particular version of Irishness, as owners Jack McGarry and Sean Muldoon came from Belfast, where they ran "the world's best cocktail bar" at the Merchant Hotel, although touches like the sawdust on the floor allude to the stereotype that Irish pubs involve spilling a lot of blood and beer. Less true to the stereotype are the high prices ($25 for fish & chips?), but this is where you would start to rhapsodize over how the slow transformation of the humble Irish tavern into an extravagant gastropub mirrors the metamorphosis of Austin from a working-class college town to a high-priced metropolis, the upscalification of the bar a metaphor for the gentrification of the city, and on that note, in search of a more affordable pint to ponder over, we made our way to the next bar. 

#200: Mala Fama Rooftop

The Bar

Mala Fama Rooftop. 422 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 8/2/2024 @ 8pm.

The Drink

Paloma. Tequila, agave, lime, Squirt, tajin. $5.

I've mentioned several times before that one of the many fun things about doing this project is getting to explore many of the drinks I've been served in various different forms. Like all famous standard cocktails the paloma is a very simple drink in essence - tequila, grapefruit, and lime - but while I of course enjoy the more refined versions I've been served in other joints, even the more elemental version you see here can be just fine, especially for $5 (it would have been $9 were it not on special). Sort of in the way that a Coke from McDonald's can be better than the same Coke from a can, sometimes a paloma with well tequila in a plastic cup can hold its own with the more upscale paloma you'd get in a fancy glass further west on Sixth Street. 

This is the first time I've been served a cocktail with Squirt as an ingredient (a more upscale version might have used Jarritos). I had not thought about the grapefruit soda in years, and evidently it originated in Arizona in 1936 as a sort of Mountain Dew of the desert, a cocktail mixer that was basically a way to sell excess grapefruit. It's currently owned by Keurig Dr. Pepper, like so many other wayward brands that have been conglomerated over the years. You don't need me to tell you about such a ubiquitous childhood staple, but I did enjoy this anecdote about its inventor Edward Mehren:

During its 86-year reign as a pop star, Squirt briefly became the topic of political debate during two days of hearings by a U.S. Senate subcommittee on intermediate coinage in 1950. Mehren led a movement to split nickels by creating three new coins with values of 2 ½, 7 ½, and 12 ½ cents. He claimed these new fractional coins called “Bens,” “Links” and “Bits” would cut inflation by saving consumers more than $8 billion annually in overpriced goods since prices tended to jump by 5 cents. 

The coinage would also make buying a soda easier. At the time, Squirt cost a nickel from a vending machine, but this price wasn’t profitable. Mehren wanted to keep it a one-coin transaction, but doubling the cost by charging a dime would hurt sales. “Mehren thought the world would revolve around vending machines,” Dobbins says. “With the new coins, he could charge a reasonable 7 ½ cents.” The proposal failed, despite Mehren giving President Harry Truman a bowtie with hand-painted images of the new coins, which included thrifty Ben Franklin on the 2 ½-cent coin and Abraham Lincoln on the 7 ½-cent denomination.

"Three Bens for a soda" has strong vibes of Grandpa Simpson's "give me five bees for a quarter" onion belt story, but you have to love a guy who tried to get the country to adopt several entirely new denominations of currency just so that he could charge more for his soda. 

Elijah had a tamarindo lindo, a mezcal cocktail with tamarind, which was also quite good.

The Crew

Aaron, Elijah.

Notes

The third stop of the night. Mala Fama used to be Buckshot until about a year ago, when it was sold to Gabriela's Group, who own a few bars and restaurants around town, including the similarly-named Mala Vida down the street. When we stopped by it was by chance, in yet another instance of shoe leather reporting being the ultimate guide to Sixth Street. It's hard to tell from the picture, but Mala Fama has spruced up the interior from the Buckshot days a bit and moved away from the shot bar vibe by leaning in to the Latin dance club market, similar to Mala Vida. There are music posters all around, incredibly loud reggaeton music, and interior decor conducive to dancing, although we were the only folks there. We did not get to check out the titular rooftop to see if they had also changed it up since it was Buckshot, but our bartender assured us that it was still a highlight of the establishment. Everyone loves a rooftop bar, but we had more bars to head to, so with regret we departed.

#199: Marlow

The Bar

Marlow. 700 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 8/2/2024 @ 7:30pm.

The Drink

Angel w/ a Shotgun. Ford's gin, sake, black sesame, grapefruit, lemon, pho spices, sakura. $15.

After the tasty but filling burger we just had at NADC Burger, a dessert-ish cocktail hit the spot. Every so often I will drink a cocktail that I change my mind about halfway through. This was one of their house specialty cocktails, which I generally have had great luck with whenever a bartender recommends one (they're specialties for a reason!). This one didn't really land with me until I was deep into the back half of it, when all of the more subtle flavors - Ford's gin, sake, sakura (which means cherry blossom) - finally coalesced into something I enjoyed rather than merely ingested. As indicated by the sakura ingredient, the name of the drink appears to be some kind of anime reference, which is apt given the Japanese theme of the drink. Periodically on this project I'll have a fleeting thought that I wish I had stuck to a standard gin and tonic or something else super basic, for ease of comparison if nothing else, but bartenders serve me just what I need enough of the time that I'm glad that I've stuck resolutely to Dealer's Choice. Plus, this is really just a fancy gin and tonic anyway, although not with the typical G&T's price tag like I would have gotten at Waller Ballroom. 

The Crew

Elijah, Aaron.

Notes

The second visit of the night was a new discovery to me. The opening of a new bar is always cause for celebration at this blog, but sometimes the pleasant introduction of a new bar involves the sad discovery that a previous bar has closed. Marlow replaces Edwin's, which was apparently a COVID casualty, which had in turn replaced Waller Ballroom. While the preceding two names honored Edwin Waller, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and most importantly Austin's first mayor, Marlow breaks the pattern: rather than being Waller's middle name or something, the new name honors the owner's daughter, which is a charming touch. I have always known the bars in this space as concert venues and nightlife bars; the new owner evidently has plans to make it cozier and a bit more West Sixth-like, which is just fine with me. Marlow is one of the properties owned by Stream Realty, which has ambitious plans to make this stretch of Dirty Sixth a bit less scuzzy, and from the looks of it they've gotten ahead of the game. When we visited the evening rush had not yet begun, so we had time to chat with the other patrons and the bartender, which was a welcome surprise on a Friday night. We had a good chat about Bangladesh, which I'd visited back in 2019, enjoyed our drinks, and then headed on out.

#198: NADC Burger

The Bar

NADC Burger. 1007 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 8/2/2024 @ 6:30pm.

The Drink

Night Fever. Mezcal, musk melon, cucumber, lime. $12.

By looking at old pictures of the menu I see that this exact same drink used to be called the Disco Flip; I'm not sure what the reasoning behind the name change was (both seem to be Saturday Night Fever references?), but whatever you call it, it's a solid well mezcal cocktail. "Well mezcal" is not a phrase you usually see, because even as mezcal has come out of nowhere over the past decade to appear on most bar menus, it still has an aura of an exotic "special occasion" liquor to it, with a price tag to match. Unfortunately the exact brand wasn't specified on the menu and the staff didn't know either, so it was probably towards the Del Maguey end of the quality spectrum. Whatever it was, it was a relatively faint backdrop to the musk melon flavor (much as tequila is a type of mezcal and not the other way around, musk melon is a broad category that includes cantaloupe) and the cucumber lime, resulting in a pleasantly smoky/fruity/fresh/citrus balance. $12 is pretty reasonable for this cocktail, even if every few people would come here just for the drink.

The Crew

Aaron, Elijah.

Notes

As you have doubtless already inferred from the name, Not a Damn Chance Burger is primarily a burger joint. It's native to Austin, originally located in a trailer out back of Idle Hands on Rainey but now with an additional brick and mortar here on East Sixth, following in the now well-trodden path of Austin trailer success stories like Via 313, Torchy's, etc. As I mentioned above, drinks are not NADC's primary selling point, most people instead being lured by the promise of a premium wagyu burger from a chef with a Michelin star, but even though we were in that very unusual group of patrons visiting for the booze, we each still got one.

Now, the very premise of a "wagyu burger" has sparked fierce debates - the entire selling point of wagyu beef over regular beef is that the more delicate marbling of fat among the muscle makes for a better taste and sensory experience, which is completely obliterated when you then chop it up to make ground beef. Furthermore, when you then slather on sauce, cheese, pickles, onions, and jalapeños (no modifications allowed!), what's the added value of wagyu compared to any other ground beef with the same fat:muscle ratio? Great questions, especially given the $16 price tag for the burger alone. My answer is that the burger was really good (for a more comprehensive review, see here), and deserves to become a classic along the lines of Casino El Camino's burger just down the street. I would say that something like $12 would be a more appropriate price for it... except that somehow $16 has become the average price for a burger (almost double the mere $8.41 for a fast food burger), and this is certainly way above average quality. However, if you want cheap, you should be eating at Sandy's like a real Austinite anyway. 

#197: The Statesman

The Bar

The Statesman. 710 B W 6th Street, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 5/3/2024 @ 8:30pm.

The Drink

Dos osos, one cave. Por Osos vodka, brandied berry jam, lemon. $17.

The name of this drink, which our bartender selected from the specialty menu, is apparently a reference to the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, which I'd never heard of. Evidently the two titular gentlemen have a vodka, which claims to be distilled in Texas even though the hosts seem to be based in the LA comedy scene. Despite the ursine name, the drink is not particularly fierce or strong-tasting or any adjective that might remind you of bears; there's just a vaguely fruit and citrus taste (so at least the vodka is appropriately tasteless). I can't think of anything to say about this drink other than it's essentially a fancier, more expensive, completely competent vodka soda that's light on the carbonation. 

A drink that might have made an impression on me was the one they had on their dessert menu: a "Forty Dollar Espresso Martini" which had gold listed as one of the ingredients. I did not feel like dropping $40, but if you want to impress your friends, that might be one to order.

The Crew

Aaron, Elijah, Rome.

Notes

Far be it from me to tell a bar what to name themselves, but I have to say that "The Statesman" is not exactly a choice optimized for SEO in this town, even if our newspaper has been gradually dwindling down to a shell of its former self for years. In January The Statesman replaced Valhalla eSports Lounge, which had closed last June. It's a supper club, which Austin has had plenty of for a while, though not typically on this stretch of West Sixth, so it has high-end food to accompany the high-end drinks. The new ownership has drastically altered the interior from its former gamer-friendly state to match the new menu, attempting to evoke the atmosphere of, to quote their website, "a sanctum of gastronomic and social alchemy where the finest flavors meet the art of conversation, each meal transforms into an event – a place where stories intertwine, alliances are formed, and futures are shaped, all under the veil of utmost discretion and exemplary service." I didn't form any new alliances (maybe I should have ordered the fried mozzarella), but I did enjoy the new decor, which looks a lot classier - nice art, leather booths, exposed brick, brass lounge accents - basically a Prohibition speakeasy sort of setup, except much better-lit. 

#196: Tiki 311

The Bar

Tiki 311. 311 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 12/21/2023 @ 6pm.

The Drink

Mai Tai. Appleton Estate Signature rum, Kuleana Huihui rum, Grand Marnier, almond orgeat, lime juice. $12.

Now this is a Mai Tai. Part of the drink's charm is that Trader Vic's didn't publish its recipe for several decades in an attempt to prevent knockoffs, thus ironically guaranteeing that all of the inevitable knockoffs would be a little bit different and potentially even more popular than their own. One good way to make a cocktail popular is make it strong; all of the Sixth Street versions of the Mai Tai I've been served have had multiple rums, and Tiki 311's rendition is no different. Appleton Estate Signature rum gets solid reviews for its mild smoothness, while Kuleana Huihui is a higher-proof mix of several different rums, making it the rum equivalent of a blended whiskey. Toss in some Grand Marnier, and this was an excellent Mai Tai, especially for the price, although as always I would have preferred a tiny bit less ice. This was either the 3rd or the 5th Mai Tai that I've been served so far, depending on how you count some similar drinks, and my favorite of the lot.

We also had a round of their Zombie cocktail to accompany our garlic shrimp plates, both of which were also delicious. I think I actually slightly preferred the Zombie over the Mai Tai, but both were great.

The Crew

Kason, Misty, Aaron, Travis (not pictured).

Notes

A dive bar to tiki bar conversion would ordinarily be a generally regarded as yet another sad step on the relentless road of gentrification, but not this time! Not to dance on a bar's grave, but I will shed no tears for the closure of The 311 Club, given their habit of putting bugs in my whiskey, although according to the comments on their later posts the employees may have gotten screwed by some sort of sudden sale and closure way back in 2017. The building itself appears to have lain fallow until earlier this year, when it became the newest member of the Bucks bar family (they evidently had trouble fitting the name into the established naming scheme of Two Bucks, Buck Wild, Buck Shot; oh well). It is a vast improvement on the previous occupant even aside from the lack of bugs in my drink; the decor is better, the vibe is more welcoming, the staff is MUCH friendlier, and they even have some awesome food (don't miss the garlic shrimp plate). Their sole blemish might be that they're a Dolphins bar for some reason, but no matter - this is a dramatic upgrade no matter how you look at it.

#195: Daydreamer

The Bar

Daydreamer. 1708 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 11/3/2023 @ 9pm.

The Drink

Gemini Rising. Tromba tequila, Union mezcal, passion fruit, almond, lemon, cherry. $12.

According to market research, the average price of a cocktail in Q2 2023 was $12.50. Now that we're well into the era where a $12 cocktail counts as reasonably priced, it's worth reflecting on what you get for your money. I discovered Tromba tequila, one of Canada's finest, at Second Bar, and while I don't think I've ever had Union mezcal before (it's evidently a common cocktail mezcal under the Diageo umbrella), it was a good addition here along with the fruit ingredients. I'm mostly unhappy about the amount of ice here. The glass is cute, and I'm sure the straw is a big hit on Instagram, but a little ice goes a long way, and I prefer to drink at my leisure without having to worry about the Sonic-sized quantity of ice melting and diluting it too quickly. This drink is fine and I would recommend it (although Rome got a Gin Fizz which I preferred), but this volume of ice just looks bad to me. 

If you're curious about the drink's name, it's an astrology thing. According to the astrophysics journal Cosmo, having Gemini as your rising sign is good news:

Gemini is one of the most dynamic and inviting Rising signs a person can have. As a mutable sign (meaning their sign falls in the middle of a season and they're particularly adaptable and flexible), Gemini Risings have the ability to change their appearance, attitude, and aptitude to best adapt to those around them. And as an air sign, Gemini Risings are naturally intellectual and quick-witted. Leading with a curious and excitable front, Gemini Risings have the gift of gab and will talk your ear off if you let them!

Interestingly, a Gemini Rising is the counterpart of a Sagittarius Rising, which according to a calculator I found, I am. Returning to Cosmo, we learn:

These cosmic archers are natural jokesters who bring so much joy to any room they walk into. Having Sagittarius energy does make them a bit overwhelming and rather blunt—which can be considered a strength if you like outspoken honesty. At best, Sagittarius Risings are people who value the truth. They may not realize this about themselves, but they can be rather gossipy as a means to attain information. They don't like being in the dark, which makes them feel inferior and uncertain. And if they're proved incorrect, they're enveloped by extreme embarrassment. You don’t want to be on the receiving end of a Sagittarius Rising's bad mood. They need to be in the know, so make sure you help them out.

Where's my cocktail?

 

The Crew

Rome, Aaron.

Notes

Daydreamer is the newest member of the same bar family as High Noon & Kitty Cohen's, two other excellent East Austin bars, with plenty of other connections to the broader Austin nightlife scene as well. I am a big fan of the "upscale house with giant backyard patio" bar template that you see so much of around town, and Daydreamer does it well. The repurpose house bar model is tailor-made for sitting and talking, and to that end they have multiple different sections: seating out front that's shielded from the noise of the street, small tables in the wings to the sides of the bar, and an excellent patio out back with an Allday pizza trailer, which is a nearly impossible amenity to resist. It could not have been a more pleasant contrast to Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, which we had just left, and it was easy to sit back under the sheltering sky and savor how nice the Austin bar experience can be at its peak.

#194: Brooklyn Dumpling Shop

The Bar

Brooklyn Dumpling Shop. 1401 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

Visited 11/3/2023 @ 7:30pm.

The Drink

Red velvet frosé. Red wine, rosé wine, blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry. $5.

Brooklyn Dumpling Shop's automat-style alcohol service meant that there was no bartender to ask for a recommendation, so Rome and I had to puzzle out our decision ourselves; we were in a frosé mood, which turned out to be a major tactical error. The ordering process is fairly simple: after you walk in there's a kiosk where you punch in your food and drink order, and once you've paid you take your printed ticket and wait for your number to display and your order to appear in a matching cubby. The alternative to frosé was a beer from the brief selection in the display cooler next to the kiosk. This is a setup meant for high-trust environments, as there is nothing to stop an underage person from grabbing a beer instead of a Coke from the cooler or simply drinking without paying. But if you love abiding laws as much as we do, there is also a lychee frosé option available for ordering if red velvet isn't your thing, as well as many beer options, though only Montucky, Sapporo, and Yuengling were available in the cooler at the time. 

The beer options came in handy because we had a to wait a really long time for our drinks to be poured from the frosé machine in the back amid what seemed like a general operational crisis situation, judging by the number of unhappy people who were also waiting for their orders. We ordered at 7:22pm, had a waiting Montucky after 15 minutes, had another waiting Sapporo after another 15 minutes, and then finally received our drinks at 8:02pm. At one point a server came out with a tray of free apology frosés, but those ran out before we could get ours. That might have been a blessing in disguise, as our eventual reward for our patience was two half-melted draughts of vaguely fruit-flavored burgundy mush in cheap plastic cups. The only thing worse than most frozen drinks are melted frozen drinks, as the sickly flavors and harsh alcohols disguised by the ice are revealed by the thaw; this wasn't the worst frozen drink I've ever had, but I still wouldn't recommend seeking it out. It's certainly no Violet Crown Iron Whip, the best frozen drink on Sixth Street.

However, it turns out that if you love waiting a long time for flavored slush, you can ignore me and simulate my experience from the comfort of your own home, as for some reason Brooklyn Dumpling Shop allows you to buy this frosé for yourself online (hilariously, they faithfully replicate the honor system of the in-store experience by only allowing you to select the Yes option under the Are You Over 21 Year Old? question). Buy the single-serving size, forget about it in the freezer for a while, take it out and dump it in a solo cup, let it sit out and sludgify for an appropriately infuriating amount of time, and enjoy: you've got yourself an authentic BDS frosé! 

The Crew

Rome, Aaron.

Notes

This location of the national chain Brooklyn Dumpling Shop had been open for about two months when we stopped by. The automat concept, where you minimize interaction with other people by ordering via machine and picking up your own food from a receptacle after it's been made, goes back over a hundred years. It was never all that common, but it faded away in popularity in the US over the 20th century for a variety of reasons: abundant cheap labor, our preference for customizing our orders, and how nice table service is. Automats experienced a minor revival after the pandemic since the appeal of minimizing both labor costs and human contact became more salient, and you can imagine the owners figuring that a restaurant targeted at introverts would find a niche in this neighborhood of new construction. Unfortunately the obvious downsides of this model are all still present, namely that it's really annoying to have a simple issue with a simple order but not be able to flag down a waiter to get it fixed, instead having to sit at a table in an exceptionally bland and no-frills restaurant interior trading sympathetic eye contact and drink clinks with other similarly frustrated clientele until the culinary gears get unstuck. I don't like to completely judge a new restaurant before they've finished working out all the kinks, but given that evidently the actual food is nothing to write home about, I feel comfortable in officially Not Recommending this establishment. As a Texan, I should have known better than to trust anything from New York City, right?

#193: Eden Cocktail Room

The Bar

Eden Cocktail Room. 214 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 10/27/2023 @ 10:30pm.

The Drink

Water of Life. Jefferson's bourbon, coffee, demerara, salted caramel, chocolate cream. $18.

All of the cocktails here have a "Biblical/sin" naming theme, and while "water of life" is a Biblical metaphor for the Holy Spirit, it also happens to be the literal translation of the word "whiskey" from the original Irish. Indeed, this cocktail is basically a high-end Irish coffee, the conceptual counterpart to the espresso martini, which has been having a moment recently. The basic distinction between an Irish coffee and an espresso martini is that the former is coffee with liquor in it rather than a cocktail with coffee in it, but even if the humble Irish coffee isn't quite as popular as its buzzier sibling, it also benefits from the upscale cocktail treatment. They used basic drip coffee for the base (although unfortunately not my beloved HEB crème brûlée coffee). I had not had the pleasure of trying Jefferson's bourbon before; they also have some funny experimental bourbons, like the ones they age at sea to increase the interactions with the wood or something like that. Where the cocktail really got elevated was in the sugar/caramel/chocolate ingredients, which did a spectacular job of sweeting the drink without tipping it over the line into espresso martini territory. This was a really great drink, truly the classiest way to "Irish up" a coffee. While the Erin Rose frozen Irish coffee in New Orleans will always be my #1 Irish coffee, this was right behind it. I was sorely tempted to order another immediately before I remembered: oh yeah, $18. Worth it though.

The Crew

Aaron, Ishani, Elijah.

Notes

Eden Cocktail Lounge has been open for longer than I thought, having replaced the previous occupant J Stephens all the way back in 2021. I'm not sure what happened to J. Stephens, but given the haunted history of its namesake, perhaps a silent ethereal exit was only appropriate. In my defense, I couldn't have noticed the change from the street, because despite its Sixth Street address the entrance is still via the alley in the rear. This makes Eden Cocktail Lounge one of the rare speakeasies that even comes close to justifying the name (they prefer that you call for a reservation but we simply walked on up, taking advantage of the limited foot traffic on this dreary Friday night). There are not many major changes to the interior from the J Stephens incarnation, the main one being that the space is a bit brighter, which is nice, as well as less red, which is a curious choice given how well it would have worked with Eden's "Biblical/sin" theme. But there's still the same wall decor (and the low-seeming ceiling), so if you liked the cozy expensive speakeasy vibe of J Stephens, you will still find it at Eden.

#192: Secret Society

The Bar

Secret Society. 101 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

Visited 10/27/2023 @ 10pm.

The Drink

Birch old-fashioned. Tin Cup whiskey, demerara, birch tincture, applewood smoke. $15.

This was the 13th old-fashioned I've been served so far. Bars just can't resist putting a spin on this classic cocktail, and Secret Society's twist on the standard was to do a birch infusion, using both smoke as some other places have done with theirs (e.g. Lonesome Dove's Manhattan) as well as a tincture. Floral liquors are not uncommon in Europe (we discussed biska, a liquor with mistletoe), but birch is an interesting choice, as despite being a good old American tree, it was beloved by JRR Tolkien himself (here's more than you probably wanted to know). The drink used Tin Cup whiskey (no relation to the classic 1998 Kevin Costner/Rene Russo romcom), which was amusingly described as a "butch, not feminine" whiskey; it went well with the smoke, the birch tincture, as well as the extra sweetness of the demerara. I really liked it. Either the old-fashioned is simply an un-ruinable cocktail, or its basic structure is so resilient as to support an unending number of creative variations.

The Crew

Aaron, Elijah, Ishani.

Notes

Secret Society is located in the bottom of the Scarbrough building, which was Austin's very first skyscraper but is lately more famous as the new home of the nascent University of Austin/UATX (as a tribute to their more famous neighbor a few blocks to the north I think they should brand this campus as the Forty Ounces). The setup is kind of unusual for a Sixth Street bar: by day, this floor space in the building's lobby is an unassuming cafe called The Scarbrough which closes at 2pm; at 7pm it reopens as Secret Society, a nice cocktail bar with an upscale bar food/snack menu. It honestly surprised me that there wasn't already some sort of bar here, given the building's venerable place in the city's history (it was the first building west of the Mississippi to have air conditioning), but such are the vagaries of occupancy over this many years. Regardless, there's a good vibe to this space; it somehow combines the relaxed openness of an atrium with the intimate lounge atmosphere you want from a cocktail bar. 

We were the only ones here on this somewhat dreary Friday night, so we got to chat at the bar with the owner, Marco, about his overall strategy for the space in light of the slumping market for the city's commercial real estate. Since Secret Society is tucked in between Velvet Taco and Ruth's Chris at the SW corner of Sixth and Congress, it is front and center to all of Austin's issues with declining foot traffic as work from home becomes ever more popular. While downtown itself is more populated than it's ever been, its inhabitants are simply not the high-end barflies of yesteryear, which will have long-term consequences for the bar sector. There's a lot to say about how Austin's ever-shifting demographics interact with the economic realities of bar proprietorship, and how the positives of having more young, single, high-earning patrons balance against the negative cost pressures faced by post-pandemic service industry establishments, but they would be best discussed over a drink, and here would be an excellent choice.